Sermon the Hundredfold, Sixty-fold, and Thirty-fold (175-200 AD)
• [Daniélou] The De centesima, sexagesima, tricesima comes to us from the sphere of Latin Judaeo-Christian apocalyptic writing of the second century. It was first edited by Reitzenstein [1914]; who believed that it was a second century document which had, in view of the doctrine contained in it, originated in a gnostic environment.
(Daniélou, The Origins of Latin Christianity, 1977, p. 63)
Dated Late 2nd century:
● Reitzenstein (1914) Eine frühchristliche Schrift ZNTW
● Daniélou (1977) Origins of Latin Christianity
● Rordorf and Tuilier (1978) La Doctrine des Douze Apôtres;
• [Hunter] For the author of this sermon, the ‘hundredfold’ reward was reserved for martyrs, the ‘sixtyfold’ for virginal ascetics (who are styled ‘combatants’ (agonistae)), and the ‘thirtyfold’ for married persons who had renounced sex upon receiving baptism [also known as”continent"]. Those who remained sexually active appear to have been [PAGE 115] excluded from reward altogether. Addressing married persons the author urged them to take seriously their baptismal commitment and to embrace total celibacy. ...Laced with biblical readings that echoed the Diatesseron of Tatian, the Acts of Paul and Thecla, and the Gospel of Thomas, the Latin sermon The Hundredfold Reward influenced the thought and language of later orthodox Christians, such as Cyprian of Carthage, even when they did not follow all of its radical encratite prescriptions.
(Hunter, Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy, 2009, p. 114-115)
• [Schanz : The three groups: martyrs, ascetics, and the continent.] They all stand in the struggle of the Spirit against the flesh, they all imitate Christ, they all suffer in the world for eternal joy, they all operate the religion, whose essence,beginning and end, is asceticism; Teaching and active morality are completely withdrawn. They all fulfill the Ten_Commandments, but they fill them in various degrees, multiplying their number by different factors: i) the martyrs with 10 righteousness-es (10 x 10 = 100), like Christ, attain the consummate perfection; ii) the ascetics correspond to the 6 creation angels or the 6th day, the Sabbath, and rest from all evil works (6 x 10 = 60); iii) the justi follow the three witnesses to whom they are baptized, father, son and spirit (3 x 10 = 30).
(737d. “Pseudo-Cyprian, Sermo centesima sexagesima tricesima” in Geschichte der Römischen Literatur. Von Martin Schanz, 1922, part 8, vol 3, p. 384-385)
• [Beatrice] The number 30, the reward for those who preserve continence in marriage, results from the multiplication of the ten commandments for the three witnesses of baptism, that is, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
(De cent. 33,84 [HIT #1]:”Trinitas ergo ista per decem verba adolescit, ut [Line 289] trecesima merces compleatur.”Cf. 44,87 [HIT #2]:”Hoc est per os trium testium probari, id est per os [Line 353] patris et filii et spiritus sancti confiteri...")
(Beatrice, “Martirio ed ascesi nel sermone pseudo-ciprianeo” in Paradoxos politeia, 1979, p. 22)
HITS:
● Certainly, whoever might be so inclined to accomplish the work of those six angels, he shall enjoy so much blessedness [fruitfulness] as the illustrious three, the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, which therefore you long for in the kingdom of heaven.[1] ...Therefore you who have learnt to receive God through virtuousness, observe his promise too, which said : Anyone not reborn from water and holy spirit, will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Therefore you who will long to arrive in the kingdom of heaven, do not cast out that spirit of renewal by your lustful living.[2] ...For He Himself [Christ] is a step in the ascent into heaven, for He Himself is the gate, Himself the entry into life, by whom in your redemption from the contagion of the world you have been spiritually bound by the Three Witnesses. This Trinity, therefore, increases by the Ten Words [i.e., multiplied by the 10 Commandments] so that the thirty-fold reward is completed. [i.e.,”the sum”that is 30 (3 multiplied by 10)].[3]
Latin:
1. utique qui se disposuerit ad [Line 239] persequendum opus illorum angelorum sex, percipiet fructus tam praeclaros [Line 240] tres, patrem et filium et spiritum sanctum qui ergo in regnum caelorum cupies.
(Ps-Cyprian, Sermo de centesima, sexagesima, tricesima, edited by Reitzenstein, dans ZNTW, 1914, 15, p. 83, lines 238-240)
2. qui ergo deum per sanctimonium accipiendum didicisti, et promissum eius [Line 283] obserua, qui dixit: Si quis non renatus fuerit ex aqua et spiritu sancto, [Line 284] non intrabit in regnum caelorum. qui ergo in regnum caelorum cupies [Line 285] peruenire, illum spiritum renouationis tuae lasciue uiuendo noli expellere.
(Ps-Cyprian, Sermo de centesima, sexagesima, tricesima, edited by Reitzenstein, dans ZNTW, 1914, 15, p. 84, lines 282-285)
3. ipse est enim gradus ascensionis in caelum, ipse est enim porta, ipse in- [Line 287] -troitus vitae, a quo in redemptione tua a mundi contagione tribus testimoniis [Line 288] spiritaliter sis religatus. trinitas ergo ista per decem verba adolescit, ut [Line 289] trecesima merces compleatur.
(Ps-Cyprian, Sermo de centesima, sexagesima, tricesima, edited by Reitzenstein, dans ZNTW, 1914, 15, p. 84, lines 286-289)
● For the Law of the Lord is hard and bitter, but it makes bitterness, in order that it might reveal sweetness. For also by John this is demonstrated, when the spirit hands over the book to the angel who broke the seals, saying: ”Take the book and eat it up. And it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey.”This means: by the mouth of three witnesses it will be proved, that is: by the mouth of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit it will be confessed, because it is apparent that honey [Latin: mel] is written in three letters. For certainly, we also read honey [Latin: mel], constituted of three letters.
○ Latin: lex enim domini dura est et amara, [Line 349] <sed> amaritudinem facit, ut dulcedinem ostendat. nam et per Iohannem de- [Line 350] -monstravit, cum spiritus [PAGE 87] librum angelo sigilla solventi traderet dicens:”Accipe [Line 351] librum et devora eum et amaritudinem faciet ventri tuo, sed in ore tuo erit [Line 352] dulce, tamquam mel.”(Rev 10:9) hoc est per os trium testium probari, id est per os [Line 353] patris et filii et spiritus sancti confiteri, quod mel tribus litteris constat scribi; [Line 354] nam et mel quidem legimus tribus litteris statui.
(Ps-Cyprian, Sermo de centesima, sexagesima, tricesima, edited by Reitzenstein, dans ZNTW, 1914, 15, p. 86-87, lines 348-352)
Translator Jeroen Beekhuizen's note: The author explains the text of Revelations 10:9 to refer to the testimony of the Trinity. The clue to this is the Latin word”mel” (honey) which he finds in the text. To the author this has a deeper meaning than”honey”alone, because this word was deliberately chosen (according to the author) for it's three letters (m-e-l). At least, this is how I understand these Latin lines.
(Jeroen Beekhuizen, Correspondence, 28 October 2019)
Comments:
• ...Rordorf and Tuilier (1978) [La Doctrine des Douze Apôtres] ...aduce a late second century sermon (i.e., De centesima, de sexagesima, de tricesima) as a parallel in content [to the Didache] (p. 58).
(Jefford, Didache in Context, 1995, p. 90-91 fn. 15)
• [The treatise”De centesima, sexagesima, tricesima”often found among the works of Cyprian,] First published by R. Reitzenstein in 'Eine frühchristliche Schrift von den dreierlei Früchten des christlichen Lebens', ZNW 15 (1914), pp. 60-90. Reitzenstein dated this text to the end of the second century. A number of scholars disagreed with this assessment and dated it to the fourth century; so e.g., both H. Koch and G. Wohlenberg. ...J. Daniélou has demonstrated that this writing was known and used by Cyprian. Thus, it cannot be later than the mid-third century. Daniélou follows Reitzenstein in opting for the late second century. P.F. Beatrice (in A. di Berardino, (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Early Church, vol. 1, trans. A. Walford (Cambridge: Clarke & Co., 1992), p. 223) places it in the period from the late-second to the mid-third century.
(Hannah, Isaiah's Vision, 1999, p. 83 fn. 9)
• [Daniélou] Certain conclusions may be drawn from our discussion of the De centesima. The treatise, which was undoubtedly known to Cyprian, in whose circle the rather primitive Latin of the text was probably corrected and improved, is a Latin Judaeo-Christian sermon from the end of the second century. It exhibits characteristically Judaeo-Christian features: freedom in the use of biblical quotations, an allegorical exegesis of the New Testament parables and an angelomorphic Christology. Tertullian, as we know, reacted strongly against all these characteristics. The author of our sermon also made use of a collection of Pauline texts which would seem to have been in large measure the same as that which: according to the information provided by Clement of Alexandria, was used by Tatian and by Cassian. In addition he may have used Tatian's Diatessaron in its Latin translation. Finally, his work is decidedly encratite in character and he bears witness to the existence of a Judaeo-Christian encratite tendency in Africa at the time of Tertullian.
(Daniélou, The Origins of Latin Christianity, 1977, p. 92)
• [Daniélou] As for the parable which forms the object of the sermon, the hundredfold, the sixtyfold and the thirtyfold are the martyrs, the continents and the husbands ["the just”i.e., righteous] who live in continence [abstain from sexual relations]. ...Later, in the fourth century, the three categories were to be interpreted as the virgins, the widows and the husbands.
(Daniélou, The Origins of Latin Christianity, 1977, p. 80)
• [Sellew] The homilist's interpretive key in considering the three rewards is to search the Scriptures for instances of tens, sixes, and threes, that is, numbers that can serve as multiplication factors of the Ten Commandments to produce hundreds, sixties, and thirties. His favored technique is catchword association. There are ample examples [PAGE 280] of tens and threes available in the Bible and in Christian teaching, such as the parable of the (ten) Talents (Luke 19:12), and ten psalters of Psalms 33, and an obscure reference to the blessing of”ten cities of God”in an unknown psalm. A ready instance of a symbolic three is available in the trinitarian formula, which the homilist employs in a delightful”midrash”on the bittersweet scroll swallowed by the prophetic seer.
(Sellew, Five Days of Creation?, 1990, p. 280-281)
• [Beatrice] To obtain the numbers sixty and thirty, which serve to express the prize of the virgins and the continents respectively, the homelist uses a sort of mystical arithmology which [PAGE 228] consists in multiplying the numbers six (of the angels and the days of creation) and three (of the persons of the Holy Trinity) by the number 10 (of the divine commandments). (Cf. De cent. 26,82).
(Beatrice, Il sermone De centesima, in Augustinianum, no. 19 1979, p. 228-229).
• [Daniélou] Certain symbolic elements in the De centesima also point to the early date of the document. Tobias' fish is used to symbolise Christ - its flesh is eaten for food as Christ's is. This is clearly an example of the theme of the eucharistic fish, of which there is evidence in the inscription of Abercius, the Sibylline Oracles and the frescoes of the early catacombs. [The theme of Tobais offering the fish to the angel is shown in the catacomb of Thrason - third century. The theme of the 'great fish' is also found in the Gospel in Thomas.] The reference to the theme of the fish occurs in De cent. 65, 35-39. F.J. Dolger has drawn attention to the importance of this theme in the De centesima. The gall of the fish represents the Christian law, which is bitter at first, but becomes sweet. This gives rise to a play on words between”fel”(=gall), and”mel”(= honey), which is, of course, evidence of the Latin origin of the document. A similar theme of bitterness becoming sweetness is also found in Hippolytus'“Apostolic Tradition”21 [PAGE 72] in a similar text and in connection with milk and honey. There is also a comparison between”fel”(= gall) and of”mel”(= honey) in the Muratorian fragment. The three letters of”fel”(= gall) and of”mel”(= honey) are also given a Trinitarian significance in the De centesima, the words being linked with baptism as a profession of faith in the Trinity and as”illumination” (De cent. 65, 41).
(Daniélou, The Origins of Latin Christianity, 1977, p. 71)
• [Sandt] The Ps.-Cyprian treatise “De centesima, sexagesima, tricesima” which distinguishes three classes of Christians, yielding different quantities of fruit (hundred-fold, sixty-fold, and thirty-fold) and, in support of this view, almost literally quotes (as”Scripture") Didache 6.2 [cf. Reitzenstein, esp. p. 79, lines 132-135; cf. Daniélou, 173.]
(Sandt, The Didache, 2002, p. 239)
• [Wilhite : Didache Quoted in Sermo] And at another place this scripture bears witness and admonishes, with words,”If you are able, son, to do all the commandments of the Lord, you will be perfect; but if only one or two commandments, love the Lord with all your heart and those like you as [yourself].”
• Latin:
et alio in loco scriptura haec [Line 133] testatur et admonet dicens:”Si potes quidem, fili, omnia praecepta domini [Line 134] facere, eris consummatus; sin autem, vel duo praecepta, amare domino [Line 135] num ex totis praecordiis et similem tibi quasi (te ipsum).”
(Wilhite and Jefford, The Didache, 2019, p. 18; cf. Reitzenstein, esp. p. 79, lines 132-135)
• [Draper] While the debate over the relationship between the two writings [Didache & Gospel of Matthew] has still not been settled, and some, myself included, would argue contrariwise for a dependence of Matthew on the Didache, few scholars now date the text later than the end of the first century CE or the first few decades of the second. If dependence on Matthew is ruled out, then there is little to establish the date of the text except for internal evidence, so that a number of recent studies have even argued for a very early [PAGE 3] date in the mid first century. [PAGE 6]...The survival of the Didache as an independent text is, to some extent, accidental. It presents us with a moment frozen in time, a community which still lived within the Jewish world-view and practice, competing with the successors of the Pharisees for [PAGE 7] control of the same social space. It remains focussed on the Torah and its fulfilment in practice, even though it admits Gentiles without requiring them to become Jews. It is concerned about ritual purity in baptism and eucharist. Its Christology is Davidic and it envisages a return of the Lord on the clouds, accompanied by the righteous departed, to gather them from the four winds into the kingdom (10:5, perhaps echoing Ezek 37:7-14), probably to establish it ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ (8:2). Its local elected leadership of bishops and deacons seems to be in contention with Spirit-inspired prophets and teachers, while apostles might present themselves at its door claiming their right to support on their journeys. This is a picture much at odds with the church as it emerged in subsequent centuries. Jewish Christian communities which tried to continue this kind of tradition were marginalized and even demonised as heretics, while few traces of their life and witness to Jesus have survived. The evidence of the Didache is thus particularly valuable as evidence of, and a witness today of, the roots of the Christian movement in Torah faithful Judaism.
(Draper, The Didache, academic.edu, 2019, p. 2-3, 6-7)